Multilateral institutions, position papers, and ASEAN‑facing Track‑II dialogue — under the supervision of senior practitioners who have actually been in the room.
The Diplomacy Route is for members who want to understand how positions are taken, written, and conceded across borders. We are realistic: most diplomacy is paperwork. The romance of the table comes after the paperwork is right.
Over sixteen weeks you will learn to read and write a position paper, run a Track‑II simulation with mentors who have done the real thing, and produce a capstone that another delegation could engage with on first reading.
Async readings, weekly drops, and three advisor sessions across the cohort. Modules build toward the capstone — there is no busywork, and there is no skipping.
Charters, mandates, and the gap between them. Where ASEAN consensus comes from and where it breaks. Reading a UN resolution against its negotiating history.
Anatomy of a position paper, a non‑paper, and a démarche. Voice and ambiguity as tools. The discipline of writing what your minister could actually say out loud.
Why Track‑II exists, what it can and cannot do, and how to behave in a room where there are no minutes. Reading a joint communiqué for what it conceded.
A Track‑II simulation on a live regional issue. You take a delegation, write the position paper, write the non‑paper, and produce the simulation report afterwards.
Every route ends in one Capstone with your name on it — published, archived, and citable. No certificate without it.
Single‑author position paper plus a one‑page non‑paper, or a multi‑author simulation report.
Diplomacy is what you can put in writing without breaking what you cannot. Capstones live in that narrow gap.
A handful of recent capstones from the Diplomacy Route — to give you a sense of the scope and shape we expect, not to tell you what to write.
No route is harder than another — they reward different temperaments. Here is who tends to thrive in Diplomacy, and who is probably better served elsewhere.
Every member is paired with a senior advisor. The names below are representative of the Diplomacy Route advisor bench across recent cohorts.
15+ years across regional policy. Reads two drafts and runs a 60‑minute session with each advisee.
Currently serving in government, an NGO, or a research institute. Brings a live sense of what is plausible this year.
Blinded review of your draft, paired by the programme team. You will be a peer reviewer for someone in turn — that is part of the work.
↗ The full advisor bench is listed on the Team page.
If your question is not here, write to us. We read everything.
Email us ▸Hybrid. The Track‑II exercise runs over a long weekend, with most delegations remote and a smaller anchor group in Singapore where possible.
You rank preferences in Week 6. We assign with an eye on coverage — we need someone to take the unpopular position, and we make that an interesting assignment.
Yes, where our mentor network supports it. Some sessions are off‑record under Chatham House rules.
Yes. Reading a position paper well is a transferable skill in journalism, NGOs, and corporate affairs.
Members usually arrive certain about one route and leave curious about the next. Each route is sixteen weeks; some fellows have done two over consecutive cohorts.
Express interest for the next cohort. We open intakes four times a year and you can roll your application forward at any time — no penalty, no fee.